My 96 Jetta GLS 2.0 is giving me fits when the temperature hovers just below freezing along with high humidity levels (snow or moisture in general).
I recently replaced the cap and rotor but this hasen't resolved anything. The check engine light isn't on and I'm without any leads.
Anyone have any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Dennis
Replace ignition coil!
Check the wires and spark plug insulators too. A mechanic busted an insulator on an old V8 of mine once, and it ran like trash. I can understand it really being a nuisance on a 4 cylinder.
The check engine light should come on, but...
Mark '95 Jetta GLS
I tried to simulate the moisture condition by spraying the plug wires with water with the engine running. Nothing happened so I continued to mist water all under the hood to see if I could simulate the problem. No luck. I took a closer look at the intake hose and PCV valve. When I removed the PCV valve, I poured about an ounce of water out of it. Turns out the grommet on the valve cover had a huge crack in it. After replacing the grommet I took the car to a local gas station to fill up and give it a wash. After the wash which took about 15-20 min, I went to start the car and it wouldn't fire. I got it started by unplugging the coolant temperature sensor and cranking the engine twice more. I then plugged the sensor back in and drove home. On the drive home the car would sputter slightly if I would give it half throttle, otherwise it was fine. So now I'm wondering if the coolant sensor is shot or if unplugging the sensor was simply compensating for another problem.
Any suggestions?
Hi there.
I had a problem on my 1996 Golf GTI 8V (uk spec) and I've recently resolved it. On mine it would stall without fail all the time it was cold. After a few minutes driving, it would be ok albeit a bit rough. Power was down but the car wasn't undriveable. Anyway, after investigating a bit, I found that the mixture was very rich causing the engine to choke whilst cold. As it warmed up, the ECU upon seeing the temperature rise, would shorten the injector opening times to reduce fuelling, and so the engine would be able to run a little closer to 'normal'. Anyway, what I found was that the ECU had found a problem with the throttle position sensor/servo and had therefore ignored readings from it and stopped performing any idle compensation. This problem was exacerbated by the fact that the O2 sensor had also died.
Anyway, cuttung a loooong story short, I plugged ina laptop, ran VAG-COM and hit the reset fault codes button. This had the desired effect. The TPS and idle compensation started working again and the only fault that remained was the O2 (which I'm in the process of sorting out). Engine ran smoothly and as I had it running when I hit the reset, I could hear the change as it happened. Superb...
Hope that helps in some way.
Cheers
T.A.
Yup, that would be My first guess.
When you were having problems, was you SES (or whatever VW calls it) light on?
I'm having cold starting problems with a 96 2.0l Jetta. Hard to start cold, stalls whil(st)e accelerating away from a stop but runs fine after warm-up and for the rest of the day, that is until the next day when the cycle begins again.
Wires and plugs look good as does the cap and rotor. The temperature sensor is within specs, looked for and could not find any vacuum leaks.
Car has about 70,000 miles and otherwise is a great car. It's my daughters car so I have to fix it to maintain my image ;)
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Hi Dave.
My 2 litre Golf (GTI 8V Simos ECU, engine code ADY) is uk spec, so we don't have a 'check-engine' light, but yours does sound like it's over-choking. You say that the temp sensor is within spec... have you tried just unplugging it before starting? when unplugged the ECU detects that the sensor is 'faulty' and uses a default value in place of the real values. This default is ok for most conditions, but not ideal. It might give a clue.
You also mentioned that the plugs look ok. Best thing to do is to start it up when cold, let it run for about a minute then switch off and take out one of the spark plugs to check the colour. If it's sooty-black, then you're certainly are over-fuelling.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, the main problem with mine was that the TPS-servo arrangement had got itself into some strange condition so the ECU ignored its readings. Resetting the fault codes cleared it. have you got access to VAG-COM and a laptop/cable? It's worth a try...
Dunno if I've been much help, but hope it shed at least a little light on how these things are supposed to work!
Cheers
The Admiral.
I will assume that the Engine Check Light is not on. It could be a faulty ign. coil. I think these can be faulty and not throw a DTC.
A Vag-Com tool (ross-tech.com) and a good Bentley will aid you. It really sounds like the CTS to me though. They are cheap and easy to change! ;-) check the wiring to the CTS esp. at it's plug.
later, dave Reminder........ Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them, and you have their shoes. Frieda Norris
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